I'm sitting here staring at my brand new 23" widescreen LG monitor, in something of a stupor. The tragic shootings yesterday in Arizona have wiped away all cogent thoughts regarding fiction writing. Earlier this morning, I watched an interview with the mother of that sweet nine year old girl who was shot down along with a congresswoman, a judge, and over a dozen more innocent victims. Her mother was clearly heartbroken, as was the interviewer.
Yet, they were able to talk about the girl and how their (and her) faith would carry them through this tragedy. Unable to focus on more aspects of the event, I turned the TV off and went to a Sirius sattelite classic music channel for comfort. What were they playing when I tuned in? Ravel's Pavanne for a Dead Princess. Mrs. Green had just called her deceased daughter a Princess. I couldn't speak for minutes after the last poignant note died away.
I have a grand daughter who is nine. Thoughts about what would happen if it were my Maren who had been standing there when that deranged monster began firing crossed my mind. Would I have the strength to answer questions and share my heart with the world at large?
I'd like to think so. We all would, I'm sure. But my grand daughter has been prevented from being able to choose whether she wants to go through life with faith in a living God because her father and mother have fallen prey to the incoherent rantings of countless professors and an amoral media who believe, fools that they are, that they are too intelligent to fall for religion.
My daughter had no such restrictions as a child, and accepted Christ early in her life. Sadly, she apparently does not remember the time when, as a first grader in Catholic school, she fell down a flight of concrete stairs. One of the sisters went to her and began praying to Mary. She told the sister to pray to Jesus because He was the one to pray to, not His mother. She also witnessed miraculous healing events that took place in our family and other clear evidence that God exists.
Sadly, as an adult she now 'believes' there is no god and her parents are fools for continuing to believe. How would she handle this if it were her daughter who'd been shot by that madman? I don't know, but my prayers in addition to the victims of the shootings and their families are for her and her bull-headed husband to reconsider the matter of faith. If we're all basically just overgrown monkeys, what's the difference anyway?
I have many other thoughts on different aspects of the brutal crime that was committed in Tucson but they'll have to wait for another day. Today, I thank my God that more people were not slaughtered by that poor fool and pray for Him to watch over the survivors, giving strength and recovery to each one of them and their families. If you would like to comment, please do so but I ask you not to bring up political considerations at this time. Just remember, people kill people, not guns. Or knives, or clubs, or any other inanimate things. Bad things happen to good people all the time; conversely, good things happen to bad people all the time. And one of the risks of our great form of government is that bad people will commit this kind of crime. An open and free nation depends on our being able to walk freely and speak freely. If we close our doors and our mouths, living in fear that someone will do this to us, we've already lost. They don't need to fire a single shot to shut us down. Shortly after that happens, we'll no longer have a democracy to enjoy.
My thoughts on a sad, sad day in America.
Dale
That is truly very sad, Pat, and I feel your pain, too, that you feel as if you've lost an important part of your own princess in your daughter's lapse of faith. But life is a long story unless some lunatic takes it when you're only nine years old. And your daughter may yet come to see a need for some unyielding source of comfort and solace in her journey, whatever she may find that to be. I can't think that your early efforts will be wasted. Have faith, my friend. I remember well going through that same rebellious period in my own life, and it did not last.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very sad story, Pat. The bible says bring up a child in the way he should go and when he is grown, he will not depart from it. Even though some fall away, they often come back to it. All you can do is pray for your daughter and her family for the Holy Spirit to work in her heart. I watched my daughter not too long ago agree with her husband about the same thing. They held those beleifs for a long time, taught them to their children, even belittled her sister (whose husband is a preacher). Today, Thank GOD, she's come back to her teachings as has her husband. It warms my heart to see them believe again. So never give up. God works in mysterious ways. God bless and keep you and your family.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Miriam and Roseanne for your comments. I agree and will never give up my belief that God will work in their lives in His own way. Perhaps the death of that sweet little girl will bring many up short so they have to face their decisions as regards their spiritual destiny. As I was taught at an early age, death is not the worst thing man has to face.
ReplyDeleteI am constantly saddened by the waste such violence engenders...the loss of innocence, and the wealth of pain we all feel as we struggle to try making some kind of sense to it.
ReplyDeleteI have lived, a portion of my life, not believing in God. "How," I raged, "could a loving God have allowed my ex-husband to do all that he did, all the physical damage that I will have to continue to live with throughout the remainder of my life?"
God HAD to be a myth created by mankind to control the underlings. Surely there could be no other explanation!
I have had extensive reconstructive surgeries in the years since my marriage ended...some successful, sort of...some not.
I was having one when I went into cardiac arrest...and died!
Now I know all the excuses and explanations science uses to explain what happened to me, but none of those things matter.
I was there. I KNOW what I experienced.
I "woke" in a place so rich in unconditional love I still weep for the sense of belonging to something bigger and grander than any of us can begin to understand. God's arms enfolded me, and for the first time in my life I felt like I really DID have a loving Father.
I still do not understand why I had to endure all that my ex did...perhaps I will learn the whys and wherefores of it after I leave this shell and once more find myself endfolded in God's arms, but I KNOW God exists, and I KNOW He is NOT the one that causes us to commit these unfathomable acts against each other.
After returning to this body, I set about learning everything I could about the history of God and man's personification of Him. I have a PhD. now in Theopsophical Education. I still struggle with how doctrine can sometimes/often skew the unconditional love that is God, but God has always been present in some form since man first started looking at the stars and wondering about what they were in awe of.
My prayers go out to all the victims of this senselessness and for all of us who feel lost in trying to understand that which is beyond our abilities to understand.
Dale, bless you for posting such a deeply heartfelt and moving post. Through people like you, God's message IS being spread.
Dale,
ReplyDeleteYour post on the death of that sweet nine year old girl has me in tears. My own daughters are much older than nine, but the loss of a child is inconceivable. That this mother was able to accept the loss and move on shows how much store she has placed in her faith.
I was brought up as a good Jewish girl to follow the traditions and believe in the tenets of the religion. I have always believed in God, but unfortunately, my husband, who was also brought up in the same way, does not. I believe in God for various reasons that are concrete and real to me. I have witnessed the power of prayer when there was little hope for my husband and he pulled through. I have felt the power of the soul leaving my mother's body and healing my leg. I have prayed numerous times for the people in my life and I believe there is a God out there.
Yesterday's tragedy was inconceivable and as I mentioned in my own blog, like a punch in the stomach. We cannot allow these acts to continue, since they threaten our democracy. I am not being political when I say that the political rhetoric I have heard on both sides has created this climate of violence and for some who are easily swayed, it has given them some kind of license to commit violent acts. The only thing to blame is the people who did not realize that when they stepped up their rhetoric they were actually being heard by people. That this wasn't just a superficial political activity but for some it was real.
As I mentioned, I hate violence of any kind and I respect your thoughts that you don't want to think about the reason why this act happened. I am not blaming any group or anyone here. I am just saying that we need to be responsible and keep checks on what is being said around us. We are the watchdogs of our own liberty. We need to guard it!!!
Thank you for this beautiful and heartfelt post.
I pray for:
ReplyDeletethe shooter
his family
all his victims
people who do not accept God's love
people who do accept God's love
people who discriminate against others
people who share God's love
for everyone.
if only we could realize that we can't change each other, but accept them as they are, and do no harm.
thank you, Dale for your blog. Joan
It is so sad but glad, too, that not more were killed. So tragic and so senseless. I feel and pray for all the families who lost loved ones, but the death of the nine-year-old is especially hard. She just had her First Communion and wanted to have a life in gov't someday.
ReplyDelete